Conversations From the Pointed Firs

Noel Rubinton

Peter Neill

Join us in conversation with NOEL RUBINTON, journalist, essayist, and author of “Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee”. 

Noel Rubinton’s writing has spanned many fields, including government, politics, culture, transportation, and history. His essay about H.P. Lovecraft and Providence is collected in the New York Times book Footsteps: Literary Pilgrimages Around the World and he wrote the foreword to Repression, Re-invention, & Rugelach: A History of Jews at Colgate. A graduate of Deerfield Academy and Brown University, he has been reading John McPhee's writing for many decades. He is a regular visitor to Maine and had a book talk at the Blue Hill library in July 2025 to promote his new book, “Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee” published by Princeton University Press this year.

Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly 1-hour audio series with Maine-connected authors, artists, innovators, thinkers, doers, and exemplars, discussing literature, creative projects, music, and more that invokes the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. https://www.pointedfirs.org/